Metro Bytes: Integra, Birch, tw telecom, EarthLink, Comcast Business

Time for a quick tuesday roundup of news from the competitive network operators, with contract wins for Comcast Business and Integra, expansion plans by Birch and tw telecom, and a compliance achievement for EarthLink.

Out west, Integra has been chosen by Arizona’s Children Association for network services, specifically an MPLS IP VPN hooking up multiple locations around the state. The non-profit will benefit from both the improved network performance and the lower price tag. Integra has been investing in its regional network depth in Arizona, both in terms of fiber and EoC.

While the SME is their main target, Birch Communications said today that it is expanding its wholesale efforts. They’ve brought in Ernest Comunications’ Greg Hogan as Director of Business Development for Wholesale Services. They also announced six new wholesale IP networking clients added in Q2: Bullseye, Belgacom, Staratos, Telaris, 382, and Primus. Birch has been steadily gaining scale through M&A for years now.

Continuing to roll out its next generation network offerings, tw telecom added alerts-driven dynamic capacity to their Ethernet services. That means just what it sounds like, i.e. you can pre-set bandwidth thresholds that will automatically trigger increased capacity. Such flexibility will allow enterprises to handle short term spikes without human intervention and without paying up for vast amounts of mostly unused capacity.

EarthLink says that its SIP Trunking solution is now rated as Avaya Compliant. That will get their managed VoIP services into more enterprise doors to make their case both for the trunks themselves and other cloud-based IT services. Earthlink also opened their Miami data center expansion last week with a customer win at SuperClubs.

And Comcast Business added another customer from the healthcare vertical from in my own neck of the woods. The Inspira Health Network, which combines South Jersey Healthcare and Underwood-Memorial Hospital, is using their metro Ethernet pipes to transfer high-res radiology images, internal office communications, and electronic medical records. Specifically, they’ve signed on for five 1Gbps connections between four major facilities, 11 smaller EPL pipes connecting to eleven remote sites, six 6Mbps hybrid fiber/coax connections to hook up six other remote sites, and two 100Mbps dedicated internet access pipes.

If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!

Categories: Cable · Ethernet · Internet Backbones · VoIP